


Blind Justice

by beletseri



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AU modern day, Alcohol, Criminal Law, F/M, I'm so bad at tagging, Lawyers, Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Sex, didn't use a beta, reylo prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:48:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29908251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beletseri/pseuds/beletseri
Summary: This is from a Reylo prompts from more than a year ago.Rey is a public defender and Ben is at district attorney. They clash in and outside of court, one night they end up making a drunken bet over an upcoming trial. When Rey wins will she have the courage to take her winnings?"Rey and Kylo are rival lawyers who don't handle failure well but also are attracted to each other, so the tension runs high. After Rey wins the case, she's so hot and bothered she asks Kylo to dominate her. Instead of hate-fucking he treats her like a queen."https://twitter.com/reylo_prompts/status/1216730368704860160
Relationships: Rey & Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, rey - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Blind Justice

**Author's Note:**

> Alright ya'll, I'm not much of a fanfic writer. But I'm trying to write more and writing fanfic is a way for me to dip my toe in. This also ended up being me purging a lot of work frustration, so take that how you will. This fic won't earn it's rating until the end. Plus I'm not going to engage in any criminal justice debates.

“You know he did it, I don’t understand why you’re setting this for trial.” 

“I absolutely don’t know that he did it, firstly, secondly my client has an absolute right to trial. If you’re so confident then I’m sure you can prove it to 12 jurors.” 

“This is ridiculous. Have you read the police report? He matched the description. He was id-ed by the clerk at the store. Have you seen his record? This is what he does he’s a thief. Now he’s escalating to violent robberies.” 

“How can you say that! A history of criminal activity is not evidence of the current alleged offense. The description was male Black 20-30. That literally describes half of the neighborhood. And you know as well as I do that ID was not even up to department standards let alone constitutional ones.” Rey was now waiving her finger in his face and very close to poking him in the chest. 

At this point Ben Solo, Deputy District Attorney, huffed angrily and stormed out of the courtroom. Leaving Rey Johnson, Deputy Public Defender, standing next to a pile of files. 

“Ben!” She called out after him then she sighed and, to no one in particular, “We still have other cases to call.” She will never understand why prosecutors get so mad when she sets things for trial. It’s not personal! The client has a right to trial. If the DAs are so sure that the client is guilty then this should be easy for them. To be honest, they should not have filed a case unless they are confidant that it can be proved to a jury. 

Rey sat down at counsel table and started to pick through her files to figure out what she needed to do for the rest of the day. Inevitably her thoughts wandered to Mr. Tall, Dark and Unreasonable, Ben Solo. Today he’d been in a well fitted blue suit with a blue button-down shirt. A suit which seemed like he’d been poured in to. He’d even added a matching pocket square and cuff links. Cufflinks! That was a rarity in the ranks of government lawyers. She couldn’t think of a single PD who wore cufflinks, well there was Peter but he was an anomaly. By the time their argument had ended his hair was no longer perfectly brushed back, getting mussed deliciously during their argument. Making Rey think about running her hands through it or how it would look in bed. 

Ugh! Oh God! She suddenly thought to herself. The man is a monster. There were obvious identity issues in the trial she had just set, Mr. Robinson’s. Those were clear from just the police report. Then that report! It was the thinnest robbery report she’d seen. And Officer Chavez was well known for being sloppy, lazy and violent. She even had a witness who put Mr. Robinson across town! The sometime girlfriend told Rey’s investigator that client had been, well, “visiting” her. Between the lines it was clear they were having sex. 

Ben was just such an ass. He was smug, inflexible and lacked any empathy. He was also an excellent lawyer which made trials with him . . . difficult. There was nothing worse than a competent DA, she can generally slide things by an incompetent one, but it was rare to slip anything by Solo. 

Rey sat there trying to do a little bit of work. People think courtrooms look majestic, like they do on TV. Rey looked at counsel table, there was file organizer with a series of ancient folders with lists of classes, programs and a few motions that looked like they’d originally been written up on typewriters. Someone, probably about 15 years ago, had put a cup down with various pens and highlighters. It was a free give away from the campaign of her county’s District Attorney who’d been elected DA twenty years ago and retired fifteen years ago. The wooden laminate of the table was peeling so that if her chest or stomach leaned up against it her blouse would catch, which, it appeared to her now, was causing pilling on her blouse. Even the judge’s bench, while it loomed over the rest of the courtroom and allowed a judge to look down their nose at her and her clients, both literally and figuratively, was covered in papers, odds and ends, Judge Ackbar had a little sign that said “I’d Rather Be Fishing.” Overall what it resembled was a workspace rather than a hallowed sanctuary to justice or the constitution. It was a workspace and that was what she was trying to do, work. 

Her phone buzzed, she read the text and saw that there was client waiting for her in the office’s lobby. She left her files, since they still needed to be called, but without a prosecutor or, as she looked up, Judge Ackbar, there wasn’t much she could do right at this moment. 

She walked out of the courtroom and into the hallway towards the elevators. She bumped into Finn Smith an old friend from law school who worked in the DA’s office and the only one with a soul. 

“Hey Finn, are we still on for . . . .” she paused, “what’s wrong?”

“It’s Snoke” he whispered. Ugh Snoke, that was the true thorn in her side. Solo didn’t do anything unless he was directed by Snoke. Solo was just his dog, Snoke held the leash. He was the elected District Attorney in the county. A relic of the tough on crime days in the 90s. There wasn’t a poor person or person of color that he didn’t want to punish, and he did it by using the law as a vicious rapier. Perfectly poised to deliver the killing blow. 

They ducked into a side hallway “What did that old prune do now?” 

“He’s making me oppose your mental health motion on the Gonzalez case.” 

“Are you serious?” 

“As a heart attack, I’m letting you know I’ll be filing the opposition later this week.” 

“We talked about this. You know how sick she is. She’s schizophrenic. She was off her meds in that CVS. She doesn’t need jail, she needs treatment.”

“I know, but I have to.”

“You don’t have to do anything Finn! Its your bar card! If you don’t want to oppose the motion, then don’t! 

“Hey!” He waved at her. “Stop yelling at me in the hallway. There goes Judge Ashoka’s court reporter.” Rey whipped around to see the very lovely reporter gawking that them. Oh, there you go Rey, get the whole courthouse talking about how you’re yelling at prosecutors, again. 

“I’m sorry. I just really care about her, plus I’ve hit my limit of prosecutor idiocy for the morning.” 

Finn looks at her, “Oh is that why Solo just stormed into the office in a huff.” 

“Perhaps.” 

“You know you’re actually the only PD who can work with him.” 

“That’s impossible the man is a monster, no one can work with him. He’s 20 years away from being Snoke himself.” 

“I got assigned some of his old cases last week and couldn’t believe some of the deals you got out of him.” 

“Like what” 

“Like where you got probation and anger management on that assault with great bodily injury? Or when you got him to agree to mental health treatment on that second strike burglary? I think he got pulled into Snoke’s office on that one.”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. He’s impossible and we always end up yelling at each other.” 

“I don’t know Johnson. You’ve got a way with him.” 

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Not after this morning, I set a case for trial and he’s pissed.” 

“He’ll get over it or give you what you want right before you get a jury panel.” 

“I want a dismissal.” 

At that Finn shrugged, “Well that might need a trial.” 

“Can you get him to come back down to court? He took off before finishing our calendar. I need to start prepping this trial so I can wipe the floor with him.” 

“What makes you think he’d listen to me? He still thinks I’m a law clerk. He tried to get me to do some research for him.” 

“I’m sure you have some sway, you’ve been with that office for 3 years now.” 

“Last week! He asked me last week! I had to remind him that I’d just been promoted!” 

“Ok well, I don’t know how to fix that.” She looked at her phone and realized she needed to head back to the office. “Are we still on for Friday? I’m bringing Rose Tico and her sister.” Finn had been crushing on Rose for months since she transferred to their courthouse. 

“Yes! Absolutely! I’m so there!” 

“Ok cool. I’ll see you there if I don’t see you before that.” 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Oh my god Finn, Finn, remember how much we drank at Barrister’s Ball 2L year?” 

“Ugh, yes I still can’t smell Bacardi without wanting to vomit.” 

“I need twice that much,” Rey said as she leaned against the bar in the Silver Tree Lounge. A dive near enough to the courthouse for them to make it for happy hour but far enough to avoid any judges. “But first I need a freaking bartender to pour me a whiskey.” She started waiving her hands at the single solitary barkeep. 

“Rey, you’re going to get us kicked out,” said Finn. She huffed and turned around, crossing her arms at Finn. 

“You know you could have warned me that Solo was being transferred into my courtroom permanently.” Finn shrugged and looked away. “I have to seem him every day now.” When no response was forthcoming “He is so annoying! He fights me on the record. I can’t get him to speak to me, at all, off the record. And he was rude to the Judicial Assistant!” At this her hands shot up in the air. 

“What did he do to Karen?”

“She likes to bring baked goods into court and he said that he can’t possible eat them because of the refined sugar.” 

“Sounds like he’s trying to stay healthy, I’ve told you not to eat all of Karen’s brownies all the time.” 

“Really? He’s a dick. He made her feel bad and she’s doing something nice! Are you seriously siding with him? Oh BARTENDER!” Finn put his head in his hands. He’d hoped to avoid a bit of shop talk tonight. 

“Can I get a draft beer and a whiskey. Finn do you want anything?” she said as she turned her head over towards Finn. 

“Ok so it’s going to be like that tonight?” 

“Yeah, it is. I’m getting this round what do you want?” 

“Just a beer.” 

“Ok barkeep two beers and a whiskey. Oh wait and an old fashioned and a gin and tonic.” 

Finn grabbed her arm saying “Jesus Rey, you’re going to barf.”

“No no, Rose and Paige just walked in!” Rey then waived them over the bar. Rose and Paige Tico worked their way past the doors, tables and the pirate décor in the Silver Tree. It was pirate themed and no one had been able to figure out exactly why. At their arrival Finn suddenly became far more interested in speaking to Rose, a public defender who had just transferred to their courthouse. 

“Rose! Paige!” Rey called out. “Rose you know Finn from work, but this is her sister Paige. Oh my god best part, Paige isn’t a lawyer! She’s a doctor and works at County General” To Paige, “if you’re here its less likely we will talk about work. Oh and I got your drinks.” 

“I’m so excited to meet you! Rose had told me so much about you,” Paige said. “There were no young PDs at her last assignment so this is super fun.” 

“Oh well she’s awesome, and we try to keep it fun. Oh look drinks!” Rey said as their drinks started to arrive. 

Rey was drunk. Not so drunk she was going to start a fight but certainly DUI. Finn and Rose had ensconced themselves in one side of the booth and were very into each other. Paige and Rey were swapping client/patient stories. Each trying to top with other with either gross things Paige had taken out of patients or gross things clients had told Rey. 

“-- Ok, so we knew he was high on something, but we didn’t know what and he wouldn’t tell us”

“No! That makes is so much harder if they’re just honest then it’s so much easier to help!” 

“Exactly! Anyway, so he’s totally tripping balls and freaked out, but he won’t tell us what is wrong. I start running all these tests and then I put him in the MRI machine. Have you ever been in one?”

“No I haven’t” 

“So it’s a tight fit. It’s . . .” and at this point Paige looks uncomfortable “it’s like a coffin. It’s a dark tube that you are kind of slid into and then it makes all these sort of angry machine noises while it’s working.” 

“Oh my god” and then Rey takes a sip of her third, maybe fourth whiskey. 

“So he’s not even in there five minutes when he starts freaking out, screaming, yelling, saying he’s being eaten.” 

“Oh no! That poor guy!” 

“Poor us! We wheel him out and finally I just ask him what are you on! He’s on acid and I say are you just tripping really bad! He nods yes and then passes out!” 

“Wait what?” 

“Yeah! He passes out in the machine. I didn’t want to wake him up, since he was a lot easier to handle this way.” 

“Well what happened?” 

“Oh nothing, he was a bit dehydrated and woke up confused, but otherwise totally fine.” At this point Rey is laughing so hard she has to wipe the tears out of her eyes. 

“Do you need another drink Paige?”  
Paige looks down, thinks for a second. “Yeah but it’s not your round its mine.” She looks around Rey to where Finn and Rose are leaning in together, beaming at each other, foreheads nearly touching. “But I’m not going to interrupt that.”  
Rey looks over her shoulder just in time to see Finn put an arm around Rose’s shoulder. 

“Yeah, no. Don’t interrupt that. Ok I have to go to the bathroom. If you don’t mind getting another round then I’ll just meet you back here.”

“Done!” 

They both get up and walk to their respective destinations. Rey makes it to the bathroom just fine, checks her phone in the line. She is just fine until she tries to get out of the stall and stumbles a bit. Oh no, she thinks to herself.  
She washes her hands and starts the task of working back to their both. When she sees him. Towering over crowds with that ginger asshat Hux and some other DA flunkies. Rey rushes back to their booth and, obliviously, busted into Rose and Finn’s tet-a-tet. 

“Solo is here! With Hux and some other scuzbag Das” 

Rolling his eyes “I’m right here Rey,” replied Finn. 

“You made a bad life choice and now you have to live with it” she quipped, acidly. Pointedly ignoring Finn’s shocked face. “What do we do! I don’t want to see Solo outside of the courthouse.” 

Paige then walks up and hands Rey another drink. “Whiskey rocks right?” 

“Oh my god yes, please now,” Rey says as she grabs the glass and takes a large drink. 

“Uhh, what has gotten into her?”  
“The resident courthouse asshole has just showed up to the bar,” Rose informed her sister. “Rey is having a crisis.” To Rey “You are friends with Finn, you can be civil with Das.” 

“Are you kidding? I ran out of nice this morning, besides Finn is exempt because he’s the one good DA and uses his powers for good and not evil, unlike Solo.” Rose decides she wants to needle Rey a bit more.  
“I’m not sure, if you’re a DA it seems like they’re all fairly complicit in the unfairness of the criminal justice system.” This comment earns a glaring look from Finn but Rose returns a wink to him. 

“I don’t even know where to start with him. Firstly, he is Snokes’ lap dog. I know none of you can make a single decision without first consulting a supervisor –” 

“Hey!” Finn exclaims loudly “You’re supposed to be shitting on Solo not me.” 

Rey continues as if he had never said anything. “But Solo is in line with Snoke. I think he relishes convicting poor people of crimes He doesn’t call out his cops when they lie. He has no sense of justice at all.” Rey has now taken out her hand and seems to be counting all the ways she hates Ben Solo. “All he wants is to win, no matter who he hurts or what he has to do in order to do it. I had a video last year proving that Officer Jones was lying about finding drugs on my client and I gave it to him! Turned it over and I still had to go to trial on it. It was so blatant that Judge Pryde actually dismissed the case outright. And you know Pryde is not defense friendly.”

“Hey Rey” interrupted Finn. 

“I’m almost done Finn” she then took another drink. 

“Anyway, he’s just such a sleeze.” 

“Uhh Rey’ 

“I seriously think he gets off on giving my client’s prison time, he’s a monster” 

“Yes I am,’ replies Ben Solo as he suddenly appears at Rey’s left elbow with Hux and Mitaka trailing behind. He then nods at Finn. “Smith, what are you drinking.” 

At this point Rey would prefer if the earth opened up and swallowed her whole. Her head flipped back and forth until she found a seat next to Rose she could slide into. She backed up, plopped down and sought solace in that whiskey rocks, and tried to melt into the cheap booth seats.

Ben was making small talk about their office with Finn, though Rey felt as if his eyes kept flicking back to her, no matter how much she wanted to will herself invisible.  
She whispered quickly to Rose, “Was that as bad as I think it was?” 

Rose grabbed her cocktail off the table and took a delicate sip. “Well it wasn’t great.” 

“Oh my god and I’ll have to talk to him on Monday, why hasn’t he left yet.” 

“Well I feel like he’s kind of looking at you.” 

“Oh my God, we have abandoned your sister,” said Rey, gesturing vaguely with the glass in her hand.

“Paige is just fine, I’m more worried about Finn, he seems kinda stressed.” 

“Yeah. According to him Solo walks around like a tyrant in that office, acting as Snoke’s snitch in case anyone dares to do the right thing. Should we save him?” asked Rey.

“Uhh . . .” They both looked at Finn. He was standing now, talking to both Solo and Hux. Mitaka was standing awkwardly to the side. Mitaka was pulled between wanting to pay attention to the conversation between the three men and nervously talking to Paige. That was interesting, Rey thought. She’d never spent much time thinking about Mitaka. He was a spectacular combination of stupid and mediocre that she instantly forgot about as soon as he was no longer complicating her day. The kind of prosecutor who couldn’t make a decision and would hold up her day while he raced back to his office to check with a supervisor. Only to come back with the deal she’d suggested in the first place because she’d made a reasonable request. Or to force her to continue a case, make the client come back and miss another day of work, just to get permission to take the deal she’d asked for last month. She hoped he wasn’t bothering Paige too much. 

“He seems ok. Besides, he has to work with these guys every day. He made his bed and now he has to lie in it,” darting back into the conversation regarding Finn. 

“Harsh Rey, but seriously, why does he work for them. He doesn’t seem the type at all.” 

“Well there was a hiring freeze in the PD’s office when he got out of law school, he graduated a year before I did. Me and Finn can’t afford to just not work,” Rey glanced down and swirled her drink around a bit, awkward at having to admit their situation. “I mean, I guess we are like everyone else in that we are drowning in debt, but we don’t have families that can help us tread water. Anyway, the DAas were hiring. And we were young and didn’t know about how their office was run at the time.” Rey sighed as she finished her story. 

“That makes a lot of sense. I can’t blame him, I don’t know what I’d have done if I couldn’t get a job right out of law school. I did civil litigation for a couple of years right afterwards and it was torture. Don’t ever ask me about mesothelioma.”  
“Wait, like that stuff from the ads? From asbestos?” asked Rey?

“Yeah, I worked at a place that got farmed client referrals from those ads. We made a fair amount of money but I was miserable.” Rose started to look towards Finn. “He’s looking a bit green around the gills what do you think? Help him out?” 

Rey looked at Finn, who didn’t seem to be telegraphing “rescue me” with his eyes quite yet, but he didn’t look at ease talking to Solo and Hux. Rey’s eyes started to flit towards Solo. He must’ve stopped at home before coming out to the bar because he wasn’t in his suit anymore. He was in a well fitted long sleeved black Henley with dark wash jeans. He looked good in that too. She’d never seen him before in “civilian” clothes. She’d only ever seen him in the courthouse standard uniform of a suit and tie. Those did it for her but the Henley was opening her eyes to a new world of possibilities. If she wanted to, she could easily slip her hands under the shirt and feel along his stomach and chest. 

At this moment Solo must have felt her eyes on him because he turned and looked downwards to see her staring at him. Rey tried to find Rose only to see her trying to talk to Finn. Rey awkwardly looked towards Solo, who was still looking at her but now like he might try to talk to her. She looked down, again, and then suddenly shot up. She was now much closer to those eyes and felt like she was now standing in the middle of whatever dastardly conversation the three prosecutors were having. (Sorry Finn, you’re included in this) Solo had clearly stopped listening to whatever Hux was going on about, probably general evil, and was now looking at her expectantly. 

“Uhhh, I’m going to get another drink,” she announced. 

“You have a drink,” replied Solo, matter-of fact. Rey looked down, she did have a drink. Not a full one, but she certainly hadn’t finished the drink Paige had got her. She then looked at Solo and, keeping her eyes on him, put the glass to her lips and proceeded to gulp down the remaining whiskey. As she pulled the glass away from her mouth Solo had the strangest look on his face. He seemed annoyed, frustrated and amused, simultaneously. 

“Well, all gone. Going to the bar” and she rapidly made an about face, turning and walking away from the group, but also the bar. She took about 5 steps, made a sharp right turn and plunged through the small group to try and reach the bartender. Well this was going to be an interesting night. 

Rey was now trashed. Blisteringly trashed. She was problem trashed and she needed to leave. She’d had three more whiskeys and was very tired. Finn had been trying to get her to slow down, but he’d also been trying to put the moves back on Rose. He was oscillating between wanting to keep Rey away from Solo and trying to keep talking to Rose. Babysitting your drunk law school bestie got in the way of romance, apparently. 

For Rey things were getting blurry, she was also having a hard time pronouncing multisyllabic works. In fact she suddenly tried to say “multisyllabic” and it took about three tries to get it out. She drained her glass, slammed it on the table and then announced to the group that she was leaving. 

“I need to go home, Finn, Finn, Finn” and then she sort of swatted at his arm. Finn was tucked back sitting the booth with Rose who was drunk though not nearly as badly as Rey. 

“Yes Rey?” he replied, too sweetly once she’d gotten his attention. 

“Please hand me my bag, its next to you,” she slurred. Finn shuffled around and pulled out her black work tote.

“Rey, how are you getting home?” asked Finn, deliberately on each word.

“I’m taking an uber, see” Rey then pulled out her phone where she’d opened the app and was about to call a car. 

“Let me see it.” Rey then leaned over the table and pushed the phone towards Finn’s face. Accidentally knocking into Ben Solo in the process. He turned and looked at her as she pulled her phone back from Finn, who was now satisfied she was going home. Rey then put her phone into her pocket and adjusted her purse. She turned to leave and start walking off but tried both movements too quickly and lost her balance, stumbling into Solo. Who caught her and put her to rights. 

“Whoa, hey Rey are you leaving?” asked Ben. 

“Yes.” 

“Umm is someone coming with you?” 

“I can take care of myself Solo, I don’t need an escort.” She then started walking away only to lose her balance once more, stumbling a bit.

“Let me at least walk you out.” 

“I’m fine,” she replied and walked towards the exit with all 6 feet of Ben Solo trailing after her. 

“At least let me make sure you get out of the bar ok.” 

She sort of shrugged when she heard that while simultaneously dipping around tables and patrons. Striding out into the cool night air. She looked left and right outside of the bar found a nook in a wall a little away from the entrance. She started walking towards it as Ben burst through the exit. He started looking around for her frantically, before seeing her position herself along the brick wall of the building and lean against it. 

“Rey, what are you doing?” he asked as he walked next to her. 

Rey looked up, sort of squinted at him, and then called a car on her phone. “I’m getting a Lyft.” 

“Where are you going?” he asked, and even though his tone made it sound like an ask Rey got the distinct impression it was a demand. She rolled her eyes at him. 

“I’m going home, not that it’s your business. I’m really – hiccup – drunk,” her hand going to her mouth and then she let out another one and another one. 

“Are you hiccupping?” he asked with a small smile on his face. She responded with another hiccup. 

“Rey, you sound like a cartoon of a drunk person.” 

“Well you weren’t exactly –hiccup – sober all night either! Why aren’t – hiccup – you affected?!” 

“Well, because I have a foot and a hundred pounds on you, firstly. Secondly, because I only had two beers.” 

“I’m shocked you had them – hiccup – aren’t you worried about your health?” she demanded with her hands on her hips. Though the movement almost caused her to lose her phone, she kept it from dropping just in time. 

“What are you talking about?” 

“You wouldn’t eat Karen’s brownies!” 

“Who is Karen?” he replied blankly. 

“The judicial assistant! In our courtroom!! Hiccup!! She makes sweets every Friday!” 

“Oh, is that her name?” 

“Yes Ben! God, I know us lower lifeforms don’t merit your attentions but – hiccup – yes that’s the woman who does all the paperwork on your cases in court.” 

“I don’t think you’re a lower lifeform.” 

“What – hiccup?” 

“I don’t think you’re a lower lifeform, I pay attention to you. I just don’t like sweets, I hate when the courtroom staff bring them in. I’m never going to eat them, but I feel like there is all this pressure too. Plus I don’t think they should be bringing stuff in for the attorneys, we probably make more money than they do.” 

“Oh, well – hiccup – we definitely make more money than they do, but it’s still – hiccup – rude.”

Now they were staring at each other, a bit awkwardly. Rey was a little unstable on her feet, she couldn’t figure out exactly what he was doing, what they were doing. 

“You know, I’m going to destroy you in the Robinson trial,” she taunted, safely retreating to work conversation. 

Ben pulled back, the expectant look on his face melting to the mask of control and condescension he wore in the courtroom. “Whatever you say Rey, though you shouldn’t make proclamations before we’ve even picked a jury.” 

“You got my email today with my investigator’s statement. My client has an airtight alibi,” she said as she looked at her phone, and then hiccuped.

“And you failed to comply with the reciprocal discovery requirements of PC 1054, you’re supposed to give that stuff to me with thirty days to spare. I’m going to get it excluded.” 

“Are you kidding me!” she shouted back, voice raising so much that Ben actually looked around to make sure people weren’t alarmed about the argument. 

“Firstly” Rey said, while pointing her finger into, she was noticing, his very broad chest “I provided the report the SAME DAY I got it from my investigator, - hiccup- I have good cause for turning over the late discovery. Secondly –” 

“Rey we don’t need to do this right now.” 

“Oh apparently we do – hiccup” 

“Where’s your Uber?” 

She looked at her phone “I still have 5 minutes, wait, I need to walk around the block.” And with that she briskly, yet unstably, walked towards the corner. Ben trailed after her, needing to use his longer legs to keep up with her near trot.

“Why are you walking around the corner? Where are you going Rey!?” he called after her. 

“I have to meet with my Uber, it’s over here.” 

“Why did you drop your pin over here? Why didn’t you call it to the bar?” 

“I did, but I use the super saver Lyft, and sometimes you have to walk to meet your driver.” 

“Why would you do that?” 

At this she stopped suddenly and stared at him like he was the dumbest man ever “To save money, duh, not all of us can have rich parents.” 

“I know that Rey, but –” 

“But what?” she asked and then walked down to sidewalk. 

“I just –” 

“You just what?” she asked as she looked at the addresses on the buildings and then at her phone and then suddenly stopped.

“Rey, where are you going?” 

“Right here, the car should be here in 4 minutes.” 

“Its not safe.” 

“What?” she looked at him confusedly, momentarily forgetting the train of their conversation. 

“It isn’t safe for you to wander off, alone to some strange address to wait for a car, in the middle of the night, especially while you’re drunk.” 

The answer seemed to take her aback. They stood there, awkwardly. Rey not sure how to process this outpouring of human consideration from a man who she’d never seen be considerate of another human being. While also wondering if she should be offended he thinks she can’t take care of herself. She put herself through undergrad and grad school, plus arguably high school since Plutt kicked her to the curb on her 18th birthday. She also hated it when Das acted like there was crime on every corner. It was part of the reason they were Das, they couldn’t believe that people could be good. They saw the specter of crime lingering everywhere and then retreated to their gated communities. She was interrupted in her angry musing. 

“What was the second thing?” offered, after the silence became awkward.

“What?” 

“When I said I’d get Robinson’s alibi excluded, you had a second thing, what were you going to say?” 

“Oh well” she paused for a moment to try and backtrack through their meandering conversation. “My client has a right to a speedy trial! You can’t expect me to continue it just to give you 30 days to do what? Nothing?” 

“Well I’d like to conduct an interview of my own with your witness –” 

“What’s stopping you! You have a whole police force at your disposal, plus your investigators! Oh and thirdly –”

“There is a thirdly?” 

“Of course there is a thirdly, it’s the rule of threes” He smiled at that quip while she waved four fingers at him and then pulled one down to make three. “Thirdly” she said loudly to emphasis his rudeness in interrupting her “You all do discovery dumps on me all the time.” 

“I always try to turn discovery over –” 

“Don’t even finish that, remember when you dumped 73 jail house phone calls on me the day before trial?” 

“I didn’t know they were there, how can I turn over something I didn’t have. Also the phrase ‘discovery dumps’ sounds rude and gross.” 

“You have a duty to inquire under Brady! You need to be looking for stuff you have to turn over from the beginning, not just after I’ve announced ready for trial.” 

“I hope you can remember to make all those arguments when you’re sober.” At this point Ben Solo was sort of rubbing the bridge of his nose as if to avoid a tension headache. Rey’s arms were flailing all over the place.  
Rey made a shocked sound, “Ben Solo, how dare you! I’m going to win, I’d bet on it. You wanna take that bet?” 

“What bet, you haven’t even set any terms,” he started to rub his face with his hands. Then looked around a bit for the car she was supposed to be getting. 

“I don’t know, I want something from you, my victory prize” she eyed him up and down, and knew what she wanted, but couldn’t possibly even formulate the idea between her denial and BAC. “I don’t know what yet, I’m drunk can’t we make it an IOU?”  
Ben seemed to understand her better than she did “I think you know exactly what you want, I’ve never known you to be the type of women who didn’t know what she wanted.” He walked up, close, and looked down into her face. He moved his hand as if to brush her cheek, but then she moved her hand up and rubbed her eyes. “I’ll give you until after the trial. Once we know if you’ve won or not then you can tell me what you want.” 

“And what do you get out of all this?” she demanded. 

“What?” 

“If you win, what do you want? What is the benefit to you in this bet?” 

“I’ll tell you if I win, deal?” 

Rey was about to start arguing this didn’t make any sense. She had all kinds of contract terms from the first year of law school at the ready, things like “mutual assent” “offer” “acceptance” and maybe “estoppel” though she couldn’t for the life of her remember what estoppel was. 

“Oh that’s my car!” She started to pull away from him, but he grabbed her hand. In fact he pulled her towards him so that she was nearly flush against his body. 

“So do we have a deal?” Between the car and the drinks and general fluster Rey stammered out. 

“Ok, Ok, deal” 

“Deal.” They then shook on it, she went to pull away again and he wouldn’t let her go. “Ben, what?” 

“I always get what I want Rey, though I doubt you’ll remember much of this conversation.” The car drove up, and then he let her go. Suddenly. She felt the loss of him far more keenly that she thought she would. She thought she’d been trying to get away from him, so why did it bother her so? But Rey was really too addled to make much out of it. 

“See you on Monday Rey.” She got into the car and then he walked away. There were two other people in the car, since it was shared. It was loud with weekend drunks going home and bad dance music. Rey was lost in thought until the car pulled up to her house and the driver called out her name, telling her it was time to get out of the car.


End file.
